Darkest of Winters Adventure Synopsis #6

“Fly? Anyone can fly a plane, it’s easy. Landing it in one piece, now that’s a might bit trickier.” –Renee Black, clarifying her piloting skills.

“That reminds me why they tell you to put your head between your knees when assuming a crash position, it’s so you can kiss your ass goodbye.” –Jessy Hannaford, remembering basic flight safety.

Adventure #6

The truck speeds down the road way at a not-so-blazing-fast 30mph, it’s progress slowed by the numerous abandoned vehicles littering the road, which Riley swerves around without much difficulty.

About 40 minutes into the journey Jessy spies several motorcycles in the distance behind them closing fast, and yells as much in warning to Jamie, who relays it through the cage mesh window to the group up front, Riley briefly considers stopping to let them pass, but decides it would be best to keep moving, “just in case.”

Minutes later the lead motorcycle, a police model complete with side car, pulls up 20 or so feet behind the group, lights flashing and turns on its siren, the leather clad punk driving it, throwing the truck 2 middle fingers briefly, before the passenger in the side car announces over a bull horn to turn over the women, mutts, and guns, and they’ll let the rest of them go free.

Shaking his head in disbelief Riley yells back for Jessy to “give’em an answer in a language they’ll understand,” and pours on the speed. Jessy smiles, yells back a wise crack to Riley about how “Heather should moon them in that case, but this should do just as well,” grabs a fist sized object from his inner jacket pocket, screams “grenade!” and lets it fly.

(Everyone else around the table nods in approval at his bluff, cheering when a critical success on his throwing roll allows him to smash the passenger right between the eyes with the offensive projectile.) This cheering, in and out of game is cut short when the motorcycle violently explodes in a ball of flame and shrapnel, leaving a nice small crater in the road 3 of the other bikes hit, and wipe out from; the rest narrowly swerving to avoid it.

(A short out of game interrogation begins from the rest of the players regarding Jessy “pulling a grenade out of his ass.” This is ended when I let them know he pocketed it during the first adventure off one of the racist militia pukes bodies, and had passed me a note during that time stating as much. Jessy’s player also mentions he was planning on using it during the previous zombie convergence when he was injured to “go out in a blaze of glory” but Heather wouldn’t abandon him like he told her to, so he could.)

Everyone else, the bikers included are shocked by this overwhelming display of firepower, the swarm of bikes falling back by a good 100 feet (30 meters) or so. The brief respite from the assault ends when the group notices the bikes parting to either side of the roadway letting a armored bank van (the kind used to transport money) pass between them. Covered in gang graffiti and the front grille stained with blood, the vehicle simply rams its way through abandoned vehicles in its path, slowly, but inexorably closing the distance between them.

Telling them it was the only grenade he had Jessy un-slings his AK and waits for the van to close, hoping he can knock out a front tire and disable the vehicle before it runs them off the road.

Meanwhile Heather leans out of the passenger window and fires off a few rounds from her lever action rifle at the armored van, which do little beyond raise sparks, and slightly discolor the passenger side window.

The swarm of bikes scatter and pull in front of the armored van to come up behind and beside the heroes truck, gangers unloading with pistols and a few sub-machine guns (smg’s) missing mostly, but a few bullets finding their way into the back, where a bag of kibble a couple of the dogs and a water jug are quickly holed, Jamie tossing Tommy to the truck bed and covering him with her body.

Riley screams for everyone to “Hang on tight and try not to piss yourselves!” and brakes suddenly after swerving around an overturned bus. The two motorcycles right behind the truck slam themselves into it’s rear, one of the bikers launched from his bike into Jessy, where a brutal melee ensues.

As the rest of the bikers zip past the truck Heather unloads several rounds of flechettes at them from Renee’s shotgun, taking out a biker with each shot, Renee firing with her handgun, (a Sig Sauer p226 in .40 caliber) past Riley to kill two more.

As the truck speeds back up, Jessy is locked in mortal combat with a wiry biker that seems hopped up on PCP and all but ignoring Jessy’s knee to his groin and follow up fist to his jaw, responding with a stunning head butt and trying to yank Jessy’s handgun from it’s shoulder holster. The dogs in back growling, and surging forward a solid toothed mass, foaming at their mouths to get at the attacker, or just perhaps to get away.

Back up front Riley spots an overpass a couple hundred feet up the road, its underside hidden in shadow, with what he thinks is movement spotted up top near a burned out car. Having little other choice Riley floors the gas and aims for the right hand lane, swerving at the last second into the left hand one, hoping to throw off any overhead attacks.

Meanwhile in the back, the punk manages to draw Jessy’s handgun (a standard colt .45 1911) and is readying it to shoot as Tommy fires wildly with his newly acquired .22 revolver. The sudden swerving of the truck however spoils the aim of both aggressors; the punks shot missing to tear a fist sized a hole in the trucks wooden side panel, Tommy’s shot hitting his uncle painfully in the side. (Fortunately it was a .22 so only did a couple points damage which I ruled was caused by it ricocheting off one of the .45’s clips stored along side its holster on his side.)

The scene plunges briefly into blackness as the truck hurdles under the overpass, a loud thump echoing through the interior as something solid lands on top of the vehicle as it exits the underpass, denting the roof in a good inch or more. (multiple enemies jumped form the roof, some splattering onto the road behind them, not that any of the group noticed this) Jamie, quickly fires her pistol up into the roof, hoping to dislodge the attacker, as Tommy joins in with Jamie’s gunfire right before the swarm of dogs drag the punk to the floor, buying Jessy enough time to grab up his Ak-47 and place a quick 2 round burst through the bikers skull, killing him instantly.

From up front the overheat warning light blinks on and curl of steam begins to rise from the radiator as the armored van fills the trucks side mirrors, rapidly closing the distance, a ganger sporting a hot pink mow-hawk leaning out of the passenger side window and firing at the truck with a battered Mp 5 smg, managing to lodge a bullet solidly into Renee’s back, sending her smashing forward into the dashboard, blood covering her lips and making her next few words unintelligible.

Riley yells to Heather that Renee’s been lung shot (judging by the blood coming from her mouth) and, “Needs a real doctor pronto or it’s all over for her!” causing Heather to give Renee a tearful look, and swear to “make those bastards pay!” before crawling out of the passenger window and onto the roof of the truck.

In the back Jessy uses the now dead bikers body as cover form the Mp 5 fire, the unknown assailant on the roof collapsing and oozing putrescent blood through the bullet holes Jamie and Tommy caused, while Tommy hides behind the bags of dog food and the bullet riddled bodies of two dogs.

* * * * *

Will Renee survive her gunshot wound? Will Heather “make them pay” or be forced to send them a bill from the afterlife? Will Riley succeed in keeping the damaged truck on the road?

Find out in the next adventure synopsis #7, Coming Sunday January 30th!